


Bunny Hop Masquerade

by denpring, slotumn



Series: Lysiclaude Week Stories with Illustrations [3]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Art, Banter, Claude von Riegan is a Little Shit, Costume Parties & Masquerades, Digital Art, Drinking, F/M, First Meetings, Gen, Humor, Illustrations, Lysiclaude Week (Fire Emblem), Party, Pre-Canon, Sneaking Out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:55:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24964834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/denpring/pseuds/denpring, https://archiveofourown.org/users/slotumn/pseuds/slotumn
Summary: [contains illustrations]"What in the--"He rolled on his side to look back, and saw the rabbit mask girl."Hey," he greeted."Why are you on the floor?""'M drunk."A.K.A. Claude is drunk and bored at a masquerade ball, but thankfully, he runs into someone who's very entertaining (to mess with).
Relationships: Lysithea von Ordelia & Claude von Riegan, Lysithea von Ordelia/Claude von Riegan
Series: Lysiclaude Week Stories with Illustrations [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1803874
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8
Collections: LysiClaude Week 2020, Slotumn Portfolio





	Bunny Hop Masquerade

**Author's Note:**

> Writer note: I will ignore what the official interviews said about Adrestia being based off of Italy and make Leicester its equivalent (mixed with Britain) instead, because come on. Derdriu. I'd like to think that they have masquerades and carnivals like in Venice.
> 
> Artist note: Man I'm surprised it took me this long to draw a "Claude does something dumb while Lysithea judges" piece!

As far as parties in Fódlan went, the ballroom dancing was uptight and stiff, the food needed more spice, and people were overall too afraid to relax and have some fun.

The masks, though.

Khalid-- no, Claude, thought that the masks were definitely neat.

Half-face, full-face, decorated with feathers and jewels of every possible color, motifs from every possible inspiration-- although deer masks were the most popular, for obvious reasons. As for Claude, he got himself a white wyvern mask with red tassels, because 1. wyverns are cool and 2. it was hilarious that he could walk around with a symbol of the Almyran royal family in plain sight like that with nobody none the wiser.

But even with the masks and buzz from some champagne, it was starting to get a little tiring to watch his grandfather and Count Gloucester be passive-aggressive to each other through toasts.

He'd already talked to most other scions his age who were there-- Gloucester guy was excessive and pompous, Goneril girl was funny but had her older brother (Duke Goneril) protectively hovering near her at all times, Edmund girl was very asocial-- and was starting to, gods forbid, get bored of the party.

Right as he was debating touching some of the stronger drinks, he heard a small "ahem" from below.

He looked down to see a girl, probably no older than eleven or twelve, in purple and gold rabbit mask.

"Excuse me, but have you seen Count and Countess Ordelia, by any chance?" she asked, voice clear and sharp.

Claude raised an eyebrow and tilted his head.

He'd heard that House Ordelia had an heir, but she was supposed to be a little older than the girl in front of him, as far as he knew.

"...It's quite disrespectful to stare, you know," the girl said, mouth slightly downturned into a frown. "Now, if you could answer my question, please."

"Right over there," he pointed toward the table where Viscount Kent and Viscount Burgundy were busy trying to expand their prospect of getting into the Roundtable. "Try not to get lost next time."

"I'm not so childish as to get lost in a place like this," she snapped.

He couldn't help chuckling at the overt indignance.

"Never said anything about your age, but, okay."

She huffed and stomped away, no doubt throwing him a glare underneath the mask.

\---

About an hour later, Claude dragged himself up to one of the balconies, hammered from touching one of the stronger drinks.

The floor and ceiling was kind of spinny, and he had a hard time getting past one of the pillars, but eventually, he plopped on his stomach and began observing the sight beneath through the bars.

As boring all that was up close, he had to admit that all the chandeliers and tablecloths and dresses and suits were...quite elegant, from afar. Fódlan nobles had an obsession with being prim and elegant, and perhaps a part of that did pay off.

Too bad most of them weren't interested in actually taking a step back to appreciate the view.

"What in the--"

He rolled on his side to look back, and saw the rabbit mask girl.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Why are you on the floor?"

"'M drunk."

The girl sat down on a chair next to him and pointed above him, at another chair. "You know you can always sit on that."

"Yeah, but 'm drunk."

"Looks like the saying that there's no reasoning with a drunk person is right," the girl sighed.

Several moments of awkward silence later, she leaned forward to take her shoes-- heeled ones, he noticed-- off and kicked her bare feet in the air.

"Those always looked really uncomfortable to me," he slurred. "Why'd you wear 'em?"

Her mouth pressed into a frown once more. "What do you mean, why do I wear them...?"

"I mean, you're still short even with the heels."

"Ugh, and you," she turned her head away, "you're rude, so there's that."

A drunk giggle came out of his throat in response, but she didn't seem to share the sentiment.

\---

The alcohol wore off surprisingly fast, bringing him back from "too hammered to sit" to "tipsy but able to walk" before long.

Claude sat up, blinked several times, and stretched his arms before looking at the rabbit girl.

"If you also feel like walking again, how about we sneak outside real quick and get some fresh air?"

"And why would I do that?"

"Uh, because we're both clearly bored and need a change of scenery?" he shrugged and got on his feet, grabbing the balcony rail to steady himself. "Just a suggestion, no need to follow."

Right as he took his first step onto the stairs, he heard careful clicks behind him.

"Come on," he laughed, "and careful not to trip down the stairs!"

"I won't, thank you very much!"

\---

The night air was cool and refreshing in his lungs, almost enough to make him feel like he was sober again. He was still a bit wobbly on his feet, though, and the carnival lights were blurrier than he remembered from earlier that evening.

"Don't get so close to the water while you're drunk!" the rabbit girl yelped, so Claude stumbled back several steps and spun around.

"Woo~ it's spinning~"

He could practically feel her unimpressed stare through the mask. "What are you, seven?"

"Seventeen, so close enough!" he paused and looked at her. "And you? What were you doing at a party that serves alcohol?"

He was genuinely curious, as she did seem like the youngest person at the ball-- but far more interesting was how she tried too hard to carry herself like an adult, even more so than himself and some other scions who were actually of age, or close to it.

Rabbit girl crossed her arms, clearly annoyed. "I'll have you know that I'm old enough to have been introduced to liquor by my parents."

"And that would be?"

"Fourteen," she paused and turned her head towards him. "How old did you think I was?"

"Nine or ten," he purposefully threw the number lower even than his initial guess.

"Well, I'm not," she huffed, "so hopefully you remember that from here on."

"Alright, alright, I'll try."

Suddenly feeling rather tired and hungry, he squatted near the ground to absentmindedly into the moonlight reflected in the canal. 

Right as he internally regretted not eating more at the party, the breeze carried the scent of something sweet and savory in his direction, sparking an idea in his head.

"You're from Ordelia, right? Have you been around Derdriu much?"

She shook her head. "I've visited a few times, but I was always busy assisting my parents during those trips, so...no."

"Then you must not have tried any of the street food," he got back up. "How about we go grab something sweet to eat, then? It would be a shame if you left without getting a taste of the fritole, or pinza, or-- you definitely have to try the tiramisu they sell around here, it's great!"

Ordelia girl fidgeted. "...Are you under the impression that you can lure me wherever you want with promises of sweets just because I'm a little younger than you?"

"Well, if walking all the way to the vendors is going to be too difficult with those heels," he shrugged, "you can just tell me what to get and wait right here~"

Once again, she followed him with definite, angry stomps, and he laughed.

"Okay, but really, careful with those things-- wouldn't want you to sprain your ankles!"

"I'm perfectly competent at walking in these, so your concern won't be necessary!"

\---  
\---

The next morning, he woke up with one hell of a headache, and Grandpa gave him a stern reminder that it "wasn't a good look for the newly-appointed heir of House Riegan to just disappear in the middle of a ball like that, especially when those Gloucesters will take any excuse to tear you down." (As though he wasn't familiar with constant defamation attempts already.)

He couldn't say he regretted the previous night's little detour, though, so he just nodded along and said he'd be more careful next time.

"The scion of House Ordelia," he began several minutes later, upon seeing a taxidermied rabbit mount on the walls that he'd never really noticed before, "what's her name?"

"The one you disappeared with? That would be Lysithea von Ordelia," Grandpa replied. "Has she caught your interest?"

Claude shovelled some pickles into his mouth, hoping that it would really help with hangover like one of the servants said. "Something like that."

"She will be entering Officer's Academy next year, so I am sure you two will have plenty of chances to interact," Grandpa said. "And don't speak with your mouth full-- such things are considered bad manners around here."

He gave an absentminded hum of acknowledgement and took another sip of pine needle tea.

_Lysithea, huh?_

His mind wandered back to the indignant, irritated voice coming from that rabbit mask-- and delivered a small grin to his face. 

_At least I'll have a steady source of amusement while I’m stuck at Garreg Mach._

**Author's Note:**

> [LysiClaude week twitter](https://twitter.com/LysiClaudeWeek?s=20)   
>    
>  [Writer twitter](https://twitter.com/slotumn?s=09)   
>    
>  [Artist twitter](https://twitter.com/denpring?s=09)   
> 


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